Our travels to and stay near Area 51

This morning we woke up to this!!!!

Winds and dust blowing a crossed the parking lot

Ian pondering "should we stay or should we go?"

We thought about hanging around until it passed but instead just took our time packing up and then decided to head out on the road for as long as we could and if it got too bad we could always pull over.

After a short while mother nature decided to add snow into the mixture

but we kept plugging along and eventually the sun came out. From the highway we saw a billboard for McDonalds in Ely so we surprised the girls with lunch there and some time on the playplace (as well as wifi time for mom and dad...I'm lovin it!)

From here we passed through Ward Mt Elevation 7316,

and headed onward through some beautiful scenery. A little taste of what's to come with all the canyons we will visit.

Aayla learning to draw circles on our drive...since they aren't on paper to
keep forever at least I have a picture :)

Sierra's newest game while driving is to draw a
picture and then we have to guess what she drew.

Today we planned to make it to the Extraterestrial Highway

and find a place to boondock near Area 51. We arrived early and took a drive toward Rachel (about 1/2 way) looking for the infamous "Black mailbox" which is now a white mail box covered in grafetti.

To be honest, this part of the trip was for Ian. I never imagined I'd enjoy it at all. But if we had more time I would have stayed in this area for a few more days. Our campsite was beautiful! We stayed at a place called Horneys and it was fairly close to the road but you didn't notice the little bit of traffic on it. More pictures will be posted on the review of this boondocking site.

As Foster luck would have it we managed to finally score our first damage!!! No Ian wasn't pleased but heck...nothing we can do about it! Luckily ir is only the back stab jacks and we will have to live with out it until we can get somewhere to replace the motor.

Ian looking at the damage

The rocky patch we hit which sheared off the motor for our jack.

The girls had a wonderful time playing here

The scenery was beautiful and it was so peaceful...

This jet flew right over us. I pulled up my camera to take a picture as it was flying about
200 feet above this small tree and by the time I got my lense cap off it was already
so far away! We hoped another would come by again but none came as close.
This one was loud but the others were't bothersome at all.

And the excitement of waiting for the jets to fly over just above your heads was so fun!

After the girls went to bed we spent some time outsdie looking up at the stars. For some reason the schedlued UFO meeting Ian had hoped would occur never did but we did see some amazing shooting stars! It was so dark and the sky was so bright with the stars on this moonless night. The sky looks different then at home but we picked out a few simple constellations.

Tomorrow a review of this boondock site and a trip toward Groom Lake and the ever mysterious Area 51.

From Nampa Idaho to Wells Nevada

Today is Ian's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

The girls drew some pictures for him last night while he was out at the game and we surprised him this morning in bed.

Yesterday we travelled a total of 644 km's and made up some time. So we didn't feel too bad when after leaving Garrity RV park we stopped about 10 minutes later when we saw a Camping World...perhaps we shouldn't have stopped??? We left after an hour with a  Wineguard Carryout Satellite system for the RV.

Before buying it we called Dish Network to make sure that being from Canada we could still hook it up...no problem we were told on the phone. So we purchased it and were on our way again. It wasn't until we arrived in Wells and tried to call and get it hooked up that we ran into a problem. After numerous attempts at trying to get an actual voice on the phone we found out we MUST have a US billing address even though we are paying via credit card??? Luckily we were able to use our Aunt and Uncle in California! Thanks again!!! We liked this system because we can use it as pay as you go. Use it when you want and then cancel it until the next trip. It is supposed to be compatable with Bell as well so we are hoping we can get it to work at home and in Ontario and Nova Scotia when we are there on this trip.

Buffalo near Camping World

Some of todays views while driving our 460 km's to Wells Nevada











We like spotting windmills however those of you who haul RV's
will agree that driving in strong winds is not fun!

















Ian driving us down a windy stretch of highway




The rains in the distance



Gas in Jackpot Nevada at $4.60...FYI if you can make it
to the next town gas is 40cents cheaper!!!

Both girls enjoying SUGAR FREE Ring Pops!!!



A family of deer



We arrived in Wells after 460 Km's today and stayed in the parking lot of the 4way casino/bar/restauraunt and truckstop and we made it just as the rain past right by us. The parking lot is so big that we were able to park far enough away so the trucks didn't keep us awake.

Tomorrow we head towards Area 51.

Garrity RV Park REVIEW

Garrity RV Park is located at 3515 Garrity Blvd in Nampa Idaho. They don't have a website but you can reach them at 1-877-422-9090. We chose this park as we wanted wifi and to be close enough for Ian to see the Canucks game.

Value 4/5
Garrity RV is a Passport America site so our fee is only $12.00 instead of the regular $24.00. Since we paid $12.00 I can rate the value at a 4.

Site Quality  4/5
The areas of the park for use were well kept. The grass was maintained and healthy looking. The crushed gravel pad was fairly level. Full service sites. The sites were small but the rentable sites were pretty much empty when we were there so it didn't matter. (out of the 88 sites in the park only about 26 of them are available as the remainder of the sites are all full time use...looks like lots are used as storage of RV's.)

Facility Fun 2/5
For us this park didn't offer much. They do have a gym available if you are interested and they do allow you to ride a bike in the park and have pets. We chose to stay at this park partially for wifi which is included, but it is fairly slow.

Natural Surroundings 3/5
There is a grassy area beside each spot and mature tees around the park. The park is located in the middle of a city though so there is only so much they can do.

Bathrooms 4/5
Bathrooms were clean and well maintained. Showers are also available.

Staff ???
I can't rate this as when we arrived at 4:00 the office was closed so we followed the self serve directions and found our spot. We left early and didn't see anyone in the am either.

Location 4/5
We stayed here as a quick stop over and didn't look too much into what was around. There was every type of shopping you could possibly need and all the usual entertainment that comes in a bigger city.

Overal 3.5/5
Would I recommend it for a quick night...yes. Would I recommend it for a week...no. At $12.00 ($24.00 without a Passport America membership) for full hook up, slow wifi and at least some grass it scores a 3.5.

close up of our site

View of the sites for rent with one other RV there. The sites weren't long
enough for us to stay hooked up but we could fit the truck in sideways
behind the RV.

View to the left of our site and our grassy area with trash can. The other RV's
pictured are full time spaces.

front of the laundry, bathrooms, showers and gym

side view of the laundry, bathroom, shower area

A long day of travel...

Today we had a catch up day of travel. We left Yakima Washington at 8:05 am,

About to leave our noisy rest stop near Yakima

Got gas at $4.39 in Washington

Not sure where this guy was headed on the bike but I was
happy to be in the truck and not that bike on these quickly elevating hills!

scenery over looking farmland

Sierra having fun drawing on her dry erase board

Aayla is proud of her drawings :)

had lunch for about an hour in a rest stop just past Pendleton Oregon,

Parked at the rest stop

Sierra horsey has a good gallop...oh sorry no here she is cantering!

Sierra horsey wanting to get her mane combed

PEEK....

A Booo!

passed through Blue Mountain summit, elevation 4193, (even though we spent the $300 to find ut our very loud truck was not having transmission problems, we were glad we did as there have been many times now it has happened and we now have peace of mind that the truck is doing exactly what it is supposed to do!), entered into the mountain time zone

Filled up again in Oregon...for $4.39 not the $3.99 posted...
that price is for locals only

This truck is pulling 3 trailers...we don't see that at home

A train shot for Aayla as she loves trains

Can you see the smoke ring? I know gross that it came out
of a factory but it still looked cool

Horsey shot for Sierra...she loves pointing out all the
livestock as we drive

Left Washington this am, passed through Oregon and have arrived in
IDAHO

and made it to Garrity RV Park in Nampa Idaho at just after 4:00. We chose a Passport America RV Park tonight as we wanted to plug into wifi for a reasonable price and so we could be near somewhere where Ian could see tonights game. Since we are in transit we haven't minded the Walmart and the Rest Stop night and will do both again I am sure, but I certainly have missed the wifi.

We dropped the trailer, set things up and Ian hurried out to find a bar to watch the hockey game while me and the girls played in the sunshine, had supper, read stories and got settled into bed. Our goal today was to make up ground and I think we did pretty good!

 Unfortunately the Canucks didn't win tonight but Ian got a good laugh of people asking him whatkind of basketball that was...not big hockey fans around here. The girls and me had so much fun playing outside this evening that I forgot to take pictures of the RV park we are at. I will do it in the am, and will add them to the next post and will d a review too. Today is our first day for Wifi (only 2 bars??? and is slow) as our Mifi didn't arrive in time so they are shipping a new one to meet up with us in Las Vegas as we have plans to meet friends their on Friday for Easter weekend.

So depending on wifi access on the remainder of the trip to Vegas I might not be able to catch up again until Vegas... until then enjoy todays pictures!

Missing everyone at home...and Sierra especially wants to give smeone a big kiss...you got it... Grammy...please give your dog a big kiss...you know who misses Rosie!

Sierra with grammy's doggy Rosie before we left

PS she misses you too grammy!!!